SAN JOSE AIRPORT NIXES UNFAIR NOISE CURFEW

Capping a multi-year effort, AOPA successfully forced San Jose Norman Y. Mineta International Airport to abandon its discriminatory, weight-based noise curfew. San Jose had passed an ordinance mandating a curfew of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for jet aircraft weighing more than 75,000 pounds. That was just one of many things the city has done to make the airport an unfriendly place for general aviation. In January 2000, AOPA filed an informal complaint with the FAA alleging that the city was in violation of its federal grant agreements. With little fanfare, the city quietly restructured its curfew from a weight-based regulation to one based directly upon noise emissions. “We understand that noise is a growing issue with many airports, but in today’s airport environment weight has little to do with actual noise levels,” said Bill Dunn, AOPA vice president of airports, “and we always encourage our members to be good neighbors, ‘fly friendly,’ and reduce their noise footprint. But any airport that tries to use discriminatory measures that unfairly target general aviation is going to have a huge problem with AOPA. We just want airports to follow the FAA process.